Dear Friends,
Have you ever gone swimming in February? I used to take my youth group students on a winter visit to the local pool. There’s something so satisfying about splashing around while the snow gusts and the wind howls on the other side of the window. If I’m honest, there’s probably a little schadenfreude there, too. But mostly, it’s just like a warm bath on a cold day.
Susan and I recently took our son to an indoor waterpark, and we got to experience the delight through his eyes. This one had a splash pad, a lazy river, and waterslides. It had an outdoor hot tub, too! Every so often, someone would open the door and make a break for it, enduring a few seconds of 25 degree air to get there.
Let’s just say that that part was not for me. The lazy river was more our speed. I’ve never done a polar plunge, but I can understand the appeal: the shock to the system; the burst of endorphins; truly a thrill. To each their own!
On a soul-level though, we all need both the lazy river and the polar plunge. Humans crave stability and comfort. But sometimes when we’re already there, it can be hard to get out of the lazy river! (Just try extricating yourself from one of those tiny tubes with a modicum of dignity.) The pull between stasis and change is a lot like what we do at TBT. We “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
This dialectic is the essence of the ancient Rabbi Tarfon’s famous teaching, lo alecha ham’lecha ligmor… “It is not upon you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it,” (Mishnah Avot 2:16). Rabbi Tarfon embodies that delicate tension between comfort and agitation to action. The first half reminds us that the world’s repair doesn’t rest solely on our shoulders. It’s a message many of us need to hear in a turbulent world. Yet the second half gives a gentle jolt—an inner polar plunge—insisting that comfort cannot become an excuse for inaction. Rabbi Tarfon’s teaching holds both truths in tension, urging us to find steadiness without stagnation; discernment without disconnect.
We are confronted daily with horrors and sorrows too numerous to process, or even really to count. Nu? So? What do you need at this moment? Are you in the lazy river, or are you freezing your tuches off in an ice bath? It’s not a good idea to stay in either place for too long.
If we’re honest, the world keeps pulling us out of the lazy river whether we’re ready or not. One such moment is before us now. Leaders of the major Jewish Denominations of North America recently issued a joint letter, from which I excerpt here:
…leaders of the Reform, Conservative/Masorti, and Reconstructionist Movements of Judaism condemn, in the strongest terms, the violence with which the Department of Homeland Security is enforcing American immigration law—above all, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as in cities and towns across the nation. Many Americans are deeply disturbed as they see their neighbors targeted for detention and deportation in their homes, at work, at their schools, and at their houses of worship. They are deeply concerned about numerous accounts of the use of intimidating and violent detention tactics, dangerous and unhealthy holding facilities, lack of appropriate warrants or due process, and wrongful apprehension of US citizens or individuals with proper visas based on appearance or language. [...]
Immigrants are members of our congregations, our families, and people with whom we interact in our broader communities. American Jews cherish our own families’ immigration stories. We recall that, like many being expelled from America today, we or our ancestors came to this country to escape oppression and find opportunity. That is why so many Jewish congregations, rabbis, cantors, and lay leaders have engaged in a variety of legal actions to protect immigrants in our midst. We grieve an American promise that seems to be no more.
TBT has pursued immigration justice for decades. Our tradition’s insistent demand to show kindness to immigrants- the Talmud counts 36 such mitzvot in the Hebrew Bible alone - makes our responsibility plain. If you wish to get involved, I hope you will reach out to me or to Robin Baslaw. Of the endless public matters in the public sphere, there is no doubt that immigration is a central Jewish concern.
The pain of a legal US resident, afraid to send their children to school, is our pain.
The humiliation of a US Citizen wrongly removed from his house in his underwear, at gunpoint, is our humiliation.
The terror of a five-year-old child, used as bait to lure his mother out of their house, is our terror.
The injustices are too numerous to count. There is no quick fix. But we must bear witness; we must stand up for what is right. Our people have been in this particular plunge into icy water so many times before. And, as Dr. King taught, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
I will be offering a Lunch-and-Learn on February 4th, 11th, and 18th on the Jewish roots of immigration justice. Simply contact the office to register.
Thank you for walking this path together, with care for our neighbors and for one another.
Shalom,
Rabbi Moss